Christmas decorations

I stopped in to visit with Mrs. Furui yesterday.  I haven't spent any time with her in MONTHS!

It used to be that Mrs. Furui and I got together weekly for patchwork (when our kids were in kindergarten and grade school) and then we shifted our schedule to once a month and met with other friends to make a yearly quilt for the kindergarten bazaar.  About 10 years ago Mrs. Furui started doing volunteer work at the University hospital and she began focusing on making decorations for the children's ward's waiting room.  Our patchwork group let the kindergarten mothers take over the bazaar projects and instead, under Mrs. Furui's guidance, we worked on various large seasonal quilts for the hospital waiting room.  

But since Covid-19, our group has sort of faded to non-existence and we no longer meet nor have any patchwork projects going.  Mrs. Furui, however continues to head a HOSPITAL volunteer group (many more people with many more sewing skills) and year round they make things out of fabric, yarn, paper, beads etc. and usually they hold a fund-raising market at the hospital.  (Unfortunately the hospital is way too far away for me to get involved and I've only been there two or three times).

This Christmas Mrs. Furui's group was making presents for the children, including Christmas cards that the children can decorate and give to someone.

Look at all these pretty stockings that got made!  Mrs. Furui proudly told me that her group had used up ALL the velvet fabric that she and I had one time rescued from the kindergarten's throw away pile... 

    We had already made two Christmas Tree quilts (one for the kindergarten, one that I have hanging on my wall) and Mrs. Furui had kept the left over the fabric in hopes of making use of it someday.  Well, she sure did!  100 stockings got made that are going to be filled with treats and given to the children hospitalized during Christmas.  Well done!!!

And this is the little card that the children will be given to decorate with stickers and washi tape etc.  The "tree" is a folded piece of construction paper backed in yellow which lays flat and a message can be written on it.  The circle with the writing is provided as well as stickers and "jewels" and the star.  The person who receives it gets a standing Christmas tree message!  Isn't that cute? 

The last project that Mrs. Furui has been doing...  is making an advent calendar for the hospital reception counter.  This is a nothing little box that has had holes poked into it which have been numbered for the days of advent.  

The little stick snowmen are laminated circles cut from a DESSERT NAPKIN!  They have been taped to toothpicks which are stored in the box!  Clever, inexpensive, and fun!

I came home from Mrs. Furui's with a set of snowmen circles myself...  Now to find a good box!  

No wonder Mrs. Furui never gets around to making her own quilts!  She is always busy making something for someone else!

 

Changes since Covid

For being very busy this past week I can't say that there is much interesting that has been going on...

I went to the pre-school on Monday.  The principal and I are talking about when I am going to retire from teaching there.  I suggested retiring in April but it looks like I may stay on another year.  I felt very bad when I disrupted the pre-school's schedule when I had to cancel with a slipped disc in October I've also not seen the children so much this year because Covid19 resulted in almost of 4 months of no English...  I really don't want to come down with something and suddenly have to call it quits but realistically as I get older, health issues hit me harder than before (but I still consider myself VERY healthy!)  Anyway, that topic is still up for discussion.

I also saw a patchwork friend on Monday who was in town just for a few days and "needed" a lot of patchwork projects to keep her busy during the winter months.  She is living in the countryside Northern Japan now to get away from Corona that is creeping into the cities and she doesn't plan to be back near me til April.  I sent her away with a basted quilt for hand quilting and lots of fabric and a pattern so that she can do hand piecing while she is housebound.

On Tuesday I had two English classes with my friends.  Again, everyone is getting older and for those heading into their eighties Covid is really scary and family members are worried about any gatherings going on.  Also my older friends are less confident about driving these days so we are considering moving one class closer into the city where it is possible to take a bus or a train and then carpool.  In the meantime we all wear face masks and one friend always wears a face shield over her mask.

On Wednesday I went to the church for the first time in 6 months!  There are 6 services offered during the week in hopes that people won't congregate too densely, but Tetsu and I have opted for attending online these past months. I went on Wednesday and attended that service and then met with a Bible study group that also has had to resort to online sharing.  We met for about 15 minutes to decide how to continue being "together" while staying "apart".  For some of us, technology is a challenge, for others the written language is the challenge (ME!)  Covid has changed the way we worship and fellowship.

I also went to the dentist on Wednesday but I couldn't detect any changes in procedure from before...  The reception desk has plastic screens up now but that was the only difference I could see.

Thursday I finally spent some time at home and Tetsu and I decorated for Christmas.  The house looks pretty festive now!  Though I used to do a lot of decorating when the kids were little and when I had children coming for English in the evenings, the past couple of years I've slacked off and maybe put up two or three quilts.  And I've got so many!!!  Why do I keep making Christmas quilts?!!!  With Tetsu's help he was willing to put up anything and everything (even things I'd planned to throw out) and so Christmas has arrived at the Watanabe house.  Except for a Christmas tree.  It has never been any use to try to put up a tree (only artificial table top trees in Japan) because the cats knock the ornaments off or pull the whole thing down.  

And yesterday I suddenly participated in a "Walk-a-long" with the group that had been doing water aerobics at the pool.  That group disbanded in March because of Covid but I noticed a poster on the pool locker wall (I've gone back to the pool since November) saying there was going to be a walking day this week with the former aerobics teacher.  It was very nice to do stretch exercises and walk the hills and chat with acquaintances I haven't seen in months.  Of course we all wore our masks...  

On our walk I noticed a big circus tent that is off in the fields and learned that a European circus troupe had been slotted to hold a mini-circus in town back in February.  Well, they never were able to put on the circus because of Covid and now the whole troupe is stuck here in the field as they can't get back to their country.  I forget about all the displaced people who are trying to cope in a foreign country because they can't return to their own...

After the walk I helped out at an English class for an elderly group but the community center is concerned about the rising numbers of Covid cases in the city and it looks like there won't be another class for a couple of months...

I also talked with both Takumi and Leiya.

Leiya has less than three weeks until her due date and she is very happy but also stressing out about all the stuff they have bought and received that is piling up in all the rooms of their house.  "Who knew a baby needs so much stuff!!!"  She has virtual meetings with her mid-wife and they are all counting down the days...  Tony is very tired from the intensity of the hospital and I don't think he is going to be able to be spending too much time caring for a new baby in the coming months...

Takumi is good and working from home but Julieta has started a job now and I guess suits up daily in mask, face shield, gloves etc.  I'm not so sure this was a good time to step back into Los Angeles society for work but she has been 6 months without a job and so was grateful for this opportunity.  For the first time ever, Takumi admitted feeling the threat of living in Los Angeles County during this pandemic.  He says that there are now people he knows who have contracted the virus and who are hospitalized...  

You can imagine how much my prayers have increased for these four children of mine...

Oh dear.... One final piece of news is that I was on Japanese television on Monday.  Remember that television crew that ambushed me at the crosswalk and then came home with me?  Well, the program was aired (but no one ever contacted me!).  It was a short 3 minute cut of me doing my crosswalk job and I looked very professional!  Actually because I wore my mask the whole time at the crosswalk my face was never fully shown nor was my name given, so probably very few people recognized me unless they knew for certain that that is where I work every morning...   

It looks like if you persevere with pushing the video buttons and get through the first blur of the video, that you can see the whole three minutes...  of course all in Japanese!

 Isn't this a funny picture of the Nikko crosswalk guards?  We had a meeting but because of Covid it had to be held outside...  Tetsu says we look like a strange religious cult!  I'm amongst the standing...  Can you find me?

 

Babies

November is winding down...  

The stove is out and oden is simmering on top which makes the house smell good and feel warmer...

Recently I asked Leiya to keep us updated on what is going on at her house so I've been hearing from her daily.  We had gone back and forth about whether I was going to go to Indiana in December to be there in time for the baby's birth or if I was going to go after to be of some help taking care of the baby.  But in the end I guess we've decided that we will just wait and see what happens with Covid19...  

I think we all, Leiya, Tony, Tetsu, even Takumi and Julieta and I were trying to make decisions from the other person's point of view.  I was happy to go to the States if I could be of some help though I didn't want to put anyone at risk by going through airports and being on airplanes.  Tony had really been pushing for both Tetsu and me to come, not so much to see the baby maybe as to see what their new house is like and where they live now.  Takumi and Julieta were trying to arrange time off and travel to Indiana so that they could come for a day or two while I was there.  And Tetsu though he is very excited about becoming a grandfather, felt it was my place to go alone and be of use and that he wouldn't be much help.  Leiya just wanted us to come and meet the baby, but she was also rather realistic saying that in the dead of winter there wouldn't be anywhere to go and we'd all be housebound (well, with a newborn you usually are!) and she'd almost rather we came in the spring when we could do things, maybe Covid would have settled down, and Tetsu could play around out in their new garden while I did baby care...  Leiya made the final call.  I will NOT be going to Indiana in December nor in the winter months.

 In Japan, it is traditional that mothers-to-be head home to their parents a couple of months before a baby is born.  When I first came to Japan this was a surprise to me because I'd think the poor father was just getting left out of all that baby preparation (maybe in those days he WANTED to be left out).  Then the baby would be born and the father would come from wherever he lived and "visit" at the wife's family home.  He might come on weekends if he lived close enough or he might just be able to make one trip while the mother and baby stayed at the parents.  Again, I thought this rather unfortunate because I believe in family bonding and think that the father should be as involved in baby care as the mother. 

Added to this was the Japanese belief that a new mother shouldn't touch water for the first month after her baby is born and that a new born baby should not leave the house until after the one month check-up.  This is where it is necessary for the new mother to go back to her parents house.  She is taken care of, the grandmother does all the cooking and laundry, and baby and mother are protected from germs in the world I guess...  

When our first baby was born I chose NOT to go back to my parents house and I was considered quite revolutionary at the time.  

"What!  You're not going back home?  You mother isn't even going to come and stay a couple of months to help you?  Oh my gosh!  You plan to have your husband be at the delivery!!!"

We lived in a very small town and Tetsu was the first father present at birth at that hospital.  I can't say that I felt undue anxiety having my baby in a country foreign to me without family nearby, but Tetsu's mother did come to stay with us for the first few months.  Her presence was difficult in some ways (she didn't like western food...  She didn't approve of the crib I had arranged for the new baby) but she was a god-send in the end.  As I've mentioned in past posts, our first baby passed away from illness nearly two months after she was born.  Tetsu's mother did all the baby's hospital laundry (yes, in Japan that was still the practice 38 years ago) and her hand washing sparkled and amazed even the nurses at the hospital.

We had moved to a new city by the time Takumi was born and this time the hospital wouldn't let Tetsu attend the birth ("that's okay.  I've seen it before."  "It is NOT for your viewing pleasure!")  I admit that I was probably a frantic, perfectionist new mother (the first experience was traumatic) and even now I consider it God's grace that Takumi turned out to be a rather normal young man.  I OBSESSED about doing the absolute best for this baby!  I took breast-feeding to a religious level, monitoring my food intake, watching Takumi's complexion for impurities in my own diet.  I hung on the words of a breast-feeding specialist who took me under her wing and I went nearly daily for advice and breast massages and instruction on baby care.  

When Leiya was born 4 years later (Tetsu again, not allowed attendance) we were in another city and this time I had to figure out the breast-feeding by myself.  And maybe by that time I was a bit more relaxed about baby care.  I think I took both Takumi and Leiya back to California when they were each about 5 months old...  (Though for both grandchildren, my mother did come to visit during her summer vacation when they were a couple months old).  Tetsu's mother was NEVER comfortable with baby care and couldn't imagine being left alone with her grandchildren.  (But she was forever great at cleaning!) 

So I wonder about my role with my grandson...  Tony's mother has offered to take off time from work to spend as much time as needed helping with the new baby and she is thrilled.  I expect that Tony, who has so many hospital cases, won't have a lot of time free at home.  From the Japanese point of view I feel I'm shirking my grandmotherly duties by not being by my daughter's side, but actually she is quite capable and independent and it is not a matter of needing me as wanting to share with me... which we will do online in this era of technology...
 

We are counting down to 25 days now...  

 

"Pretty" weeds

Tetsu and I are not getting out and about much these days.  Though Tetsu would like to, we are avoiding hot spas and thus we don't even have much reason to go out for a drive...  Still, we wanted to take photos so this week we walked across the street one morning and took photos of...  weeds.

Here is Tetsu getting a photo of the an abandoned flower field.  There are quite a numbers of farmers in our area that have Rindo fields and hot houses but the season is over and these are the left-overs from the second growth.

And this is the Rindo flower...

This is one of the Rindo hothouses that has been abandoned for the rest of the winter.  It is getting cold but maybe not as cold as I seem to be dressed for...  I get cold easily thus all this outer wear.  

Past the hot-house the autumn leaves were beautiful!

We wandered into an unkept field with all the weeds.  It was about 7:00 am and the shadows were still long.

Tetsu likes the sky and clouds.  He looks up a lot.

I like things around my feet.  I look down a lot.  Does that say something about our personalities?

Anyway, the autumn leaves were falling around us...

And weeds were blowing in the wind.

I love the sparkle of dew on the weeds!

Happy with my camera!

The camera can add a starry mode to my shots.  It picks up the light on the dew and makes it glitter!

Speaking of glitter.  Did anyone see this?

Makes it clear to me!

Giving Thanks

Thinking about Thanksgiving from Japan...  

I didn't do much Thanksgiving celebrating when I first came to Japan.  For one, it is an American holiday and I was the only one in our family that had any memories of it (and we didn't even have close relatives in California when I lived at home).  But after becoming friends with Marlene's family we have had a somewhat regular Thanksgiving.   Marlene's husband had spent time in America (unlike Tetsu) and so he has good memories of celebrating Thanksgiving.  Marlene also has an American kitchen in her house with an oven large enough to roast a turkey (I can make 12 cookies at a time in my oven/microwave) and so if any celebrating is to be done, Thanksgiving is held at Marlene's house!  Alas this year Thanksgiving has been shelved or at least postponed...  

Tetsu was off in Morioka for nearly a week...  Marlene and husband went to an Onsen the same week... and her husband is traveling this week also. Their son and wife who live in Tokyo don't feel comfortable traveling at this time....  Another set of friends who also are included have had members traveling out of the prefecture...  All-in-all, except for me, there have been too many ways for us to come into contact with Covid-19 and the numbers of Covid cases are increasing alarmingly.  We will all hunker down in our homes and think about the possibilities next month... Hah!

So...  How about a Japanese lesson on saying "Thank you"?  I was walking towards the crosswalk this morning when I crossed paths with a jogger.  As I went by him I said "Good morning." and he said "Otsukaresamadesu".  And that got me thinking about how we say thank you in Japan.

Maybe the term you have heard the most if you have heard any Japanese at all is:  "Arigato."  It means "Thank you".  But Japanese isn't that simple!  Depending on to whom you are speaking the language and the words change!  I might say "Arigato" to a child who brings me something but I'll say "Doumo Arigato" to someone maybe my age, or maybe after I've made a request.  "Doumo" alone is a bit glib sort of like "thanks" and if Tetsu brings me a coffee while I'm busy doing something else I might only get a "Doumo" in.  Actually "Doumo Arigato Gozaimasu" is the most polite form and even that "gozaimasu" (which is present tense) can be changed to "Gozaimashita" if one is thanking someone for something in the past.

Doumo

Arigato

Doumo Arigato

Domo Arigato Gozaimasu.

Ah!  But the language changes again depending on where you are!  If I am at a workplace then I might say to someone "Otsukaresama" which is what the jogger said to me.  It means that he is thanking me for doing my job, (he could tell because I was wearing a uniform) and it literally means "thanks for your tiredness", I guess recognizing the effort.

Another workplace expression of gratitude, maybe used with subordinates (Japanese are big on knowing where one's place is in society) is "Gokurousama".  It is used when recognizing the person's very hard work and I might say it to a workman or someone in a service position.  Literally I think it means "Thank you for your hard work."

"Sumimasen" is another phrase that I actually use quite a lot.  It can also be used for apologizing as it means "I'm sorry" but it can be used for thanking someone when the nuance is "Thank you for your help, I'm sorry I've taken up your time."

There is a whole other set of vocabulary depending on dialects in Japan though the only one I am half familiar with (I hear it on TV) is "Okini" which is the way "Thank you" is said in the central part of Japan.  I'm pretty sure that each area of Japan has a different way of expressing gratitude and one learns it as one lives in the area...

It can get confusing. 

Thank you for visiting my blog again today.  

Doumo Arigato Gozaimasu!  with a smile and a low bow included!

Unique

I had an interesting time when I went to my friend, Mrs. I's, house on Tuesday.  Mrs. I is very crafty, knitting, weaving, painting, doing dried flower art etc.  She always has an interesting project going on!

On this day, two of us visited Mrs. I and she asked if we would like to do some paper dying.  Do you have to ask?!  Of course!  Out came the supplies, regular acrylic paints, even some tole paints, Japanese paper used for practicing calligraphy.  It wasn't actually washi paper (hand made paper from fibers) but it was a non-shiny paper that "grabbed" ink.

In about an hour and a half, the three of us had made numerous pages of colorful paper by folding the paper and dipping the corners and sides in different puddles of paint on our pallets. 

 Aren't they colorful!  Now what to do with all this color...

So I came home and gave it some thought...  I've kept up with Bullet Journaling the last 6 months and my bullet journal has actually turned into a sort of scrapbook/art journal/Bible study journal.  All sorts of things get added to it!  Okay...  I need to put a page of my new dyed paper into my journal!

I have been lurking on Valerie Sjodin's blog and I love her use of color and Bible verses and quotes (and bullet journaling).  I decided to recreate one of her pages...  well loosely recreate.  I used most of her quotations and many of her ideas but I sure can't do her artwork!!!

I had so much fun with this project!  First to figure out how to glue the paper to the page (tore my first attempt) and then I penciled in writing.  Finally I went over the writing with many of my different pens I've bought in the past months and doing the Bible quotation in a vibrant blue Frixion pen I really like and use for many of my Bible verses in the bullet journal to make them stand out. 

 

I chose the quotes and the idea from Valerie because when dying the papers I realized how unique each one was turning out.  I'd try to use the same colors as my friend but our two papers would come out completely different!  I continued the idea of individuality by adding numerous snowflakes in gold and white.  

And all the time copying the quotations and Bible verse I had in mind my grandson who will be born next month...  My art project was very meaningful for me and I am very glad that I have these two pages recorded in my bullet journal.  (And I do realize how ironic it is to have chosen the word UNIQUE and then try copying an idea but that's the way I work... in patchwork too!)

I'd actually used quite a lot of water when glueing down the colorful paper and so as a last step I ironed my bullet journal pages flat.  BIG MISTAKE!!!  Um...  That Frixon pen...?  Does anyone remember that the way Frixion pens erase the pen marks is with HEAT caused by friction when rubbing the "eraser" back and forth?  Well, I forgot that little piece of information and when I looked at my page the Bible verse had completely disappeared!!!  Ah!  Heat!  Not necessarily from friction but any heat will make the ink disappear.

I had a similar color in a non-Frixion pen and I rewrote my Bible verse on my page...  BUT I also realized that at least 5 pages back in my bullet pages entries, my Bible verses had disappeared!  I spent a good hour going back and rewriting those verses, again with my Frixion pen...  Unless my bullet journal comes in contact with a fire I don't think my pages are in danger of disappearing again...

I've got a lot more paper that I made so I'll probably have another fun day of paper and pens and quotations at a later date!

Tetsu's Morioka sunsets

Tetsu arrived home safely yesterday morning and though he looked exhausted he said he had a great time!   His camera was filled with 567 photos!  So today's pictures are a continuation of Tetsu's trip to Morioka.  He spent nearly 6 days going and coming and staying and he got done most of the things he had planned.

The purpose of the trip was to do some repair work to our family grave because usually our quick visits don't allow for more than a bit of leaf raking or weed pulling.  This time Tetsu spent about three days of 4 or 5 hours each day, scrubbing, weeding, even making adjustments to the head stone.  He said that the grave has shifted over time and so he ended up removing all the old gravel, removing the flower pedestal block, hammering the white marble slab in front back an inch or so and then replacing the flower block.  He said he even checked inside the grave (you can do that in Japan) and sure enough, our two urns are placed side by side.  He then laid out bricks that he had bought (colorful you note!  He loves color) and then spread some new gravel.  He was very proud of his efforts and said he had been given advice on moving the stone from a workman that was nearby laying the foundation for a new grave.  Satisfaction!

As Tetsu spent three days at this cemetery he also enjoyed taking pictures of the scenery from the hillside.  Mt. Iwate is the pride of Morioka and he so many pictures of it from different angles.

He also played around with his camera a bit and took pictures of the sky with the creative mode on his camera.

Tetsu didn't spend his whole time at the cemetery and he checked out his old elementary school, his high school and a long ago date spot of ours.  He also visited his two friends making a surprise appearance at the houses but refusing to go inside (social distancing) and thus the visits could only last as long as he and his friends could stand the cold.  

Tetsu had told me that he was going to leave Morioka in the morning and return in the early afternoon (6 hours later) but actually he left Morioka in the early evening the day before AND IT TOOK HIM 17 HOURS TO GET HOME TAKING THE BACK ROADS!!!  He avoided the highway in order to save the toll fare!!!  This is why I'm never too thrilled to travel with Tetsu.  His way of being economical is hard to grasp.  I would think his way takes more wear and tear on the car and uses more gasoline, but this was HIS trip and he drove it as he liked.  

I do love the last two photos that I've posted though.  He said he was just getting out his camera to take pictures of the sunset when suddenly a flock of birds took off from the tree. 

I'm glad Tetsu had fun and that he is back home safely again.  Next trip I guess I'll go with him... insisting on taking the highway though!